Blending of textile fibrous materials



Sept. 16, 1958 w. A. HUNTER ETAL 2,851,737

BLENDING OF TEXTILE F'IBROUS MATERIALS Original Filed Aug. 6. 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 16, 1958 w. A. HUNTER ETAL 2,851,737

' BLENDING OF TEXTILE FIBROUS MATERIALS Original Filed Aug. 6. 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 16, 1958 w. A. HUNTER ETAL 2,851,737

BLENDING OF TEXTILE FIBROUS MATERIALS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed Aug. 6. 1953 Sept. 16, 1958 w. A. HUNTER ETAL BLENDING OF TEXTILE FIBRO-US MATERIALS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent'O BLENDING F TEXTILE FIBROUS MATERIALS William Aldred Hunter, Stanhill, Accrington, and Frank Singleton, Accrington, England, assignors to T. M. M.

(Research) Limited, Oldham, England Divided and this application August 23, 1955, "Serial Claims. (31. 19-146) This invention relates to a method of blending textile fibrous materials, i. e. the intimate mixture of fibres of 2,816,327, which as filed related to an improved method of and apparatus for blending different fibrous ingredients, the present application being directed to the said method.

The method herein described is an improvementupon methods heretofore customarily used, such as the socalled batch method, according to which a measured quantity of each of a number of different ingredients (which term is employed herein to denote fibres of different kinds, grades, qualities or the like) is delivered 2,851,73? Patented Sept, 16, 1958 ther, it is a preferable feature of the invention that the material is advanced from the several stations at speeds proportional to the proportions of the respective ingredient materials desired in the blend, or that the material is pulled from the forward edges of the advancing sheets at speeds proportional to the proportions of the several ingredients desired in the blend. The superposed layers of tufts may be conveyed forwardly for further operations. 7 7

Such; a method may be carried on continuously or intermittently, and it will be observed that where a different kind, grade or quality of textile fibre is supplied to each station the effect will be to produce a blend in which the several ingredients are dispersed'through the .same quite homogeneously, 'a result which is attributable to the minuteness of the component tufts and the layered disposition of .the same upon the surface upon which they are deposited.

The nature of the invention and the .manner of carrying the same into effect is hereinafter more fully described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, of which Fig. l is a schematicrepresentation ofa possible lay-out of a blending apparatus-in relation to .the apparatus by which it is supplied with different ingredient materials and the processing apparatus to which the blended mixture is delivered. Fig. 2; is a'partly sectional elevation of one form of blending apparatusby which the method may be practised, and Fig, 3-is a perspective-view thereof, the-several driving gearsand con- 0 trol circuits'being omitted. Fig. 4;' is -a fragmentarysecseparately into a mixing chamber, either so astoform-c successive layers or piled in adjacent masse's,the contents of the chamber then being mixed together until the whole mass is adjudged to have been sufficiently thoroughly intermingled. Such methods of blending are necessarilyimperfeet in that the production of anything approaching ahoserious disadvantage of the batch method'of blending arises from the fact that it is by its very nature intermittent and is therefore unsuited to a continuous'mode of yarn production. 1

An object of the present invention is the provision-of a method for blending different fibrous ingredients with such intimacy of admixture that the'several ingredients' are dispensed throughout the mass so nearly homogeneously that their individual characteristics are incapable of being detected save by careful'analysis, thereby producing a yarn of fibres possessing a very high degree of unitionalelevation depicting the upper parts of themeasured- ..rate. delivery units in a modifiedgform of blending appa- -ratus, and Fig. 5 is a detail view "(drawn ;to a larger scale), illustrating the means employed to ;support and drivethecondenser cages in'the embodimentshown in Fig. 4, when viewed in the directiomof-the; arrow, the

surrounding case being removed.

In the lay-out illustrated in-,Fig. 1,;each ofvthe elements designated with the reference numeral 1 ,is aphopper feeder apparatus conveniently 'of ithe'kind whichlrforms the subject of United States Patent'No. 2,666,95 6. Each such hopper feeder 1 is fed with one of thezdifierent in- ;gredients of textile fibre which it is desiredato blend, and each'discharges its output into-a pneumatic delivery duct 2iby which the'fibres are conveyed in well-known fashion topthe inlet of one of the measured-rate delivery units of "the blending apparatus, which apparatus,,is-indicated in 'Fig. ,1 by the general reference numeral'3. Theblend producedby said apparatus 3 is conveyed by pneumatic 0 feed ducts 4 to one or more combinedsets, of hopper formity. A further object is to, provide homogeneous blending at such an early stage in the processing of the fibres that much less sliver doubling (for the purpose of vancing it forwardly therefrom at a measured rate while firmly gripping the same; and pulling material fromthe forward edge of each such sheet in the form offinely divided tufts and depositing thesame 'uponfa surface in such manner that the tufts from the several stations will be superposed. This may suitably'be accomplished by depositing such tufts upon a member travellingpast'such stations successively, the speed of such travelling member being regulated relatively to the speeds of advance of the sheets from the several stations, so that the tufts 'will be deposited in superposed layers on'such'member. "Fun feeders 5 and intensive opening machines v 6, preferably of the kind described in British Patent No. 650,157. The yseveral vhopper feeders 1, 1 should be. adjusted, s0 ;t hat ,the respective outputs discharged to the blending apparatus are of a uniform degree of openness, and thus in .the most suitable condition for accurate metering.

Referring now to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the blending apparatus, indicated in Fig, 1 by the reference numeral .3, comprises a gang or assembly of measured-rate .de-

livery units: each of which includes a-vertical gravity feed .trunk 7 .at the head of which is a conventional rotary damped condenser cage 8. Said cage 8 is enclosed in acasing 9 which is entered by one of the pneumatic; feed ducts2 at the delivery end thereof, and all of the cages 8'are aspirated by means of fans 10,10 to which connection is made with said cages by manifolds 11, 11, and 'the outlets of which are seen at 12, 12.

The otherwise open aperture at the base of each gravityfeed trunk'7- is controlled by a pair ofmetering rollers 13, 13, which are arranged to rotate in contrary directions so as to discharge the contents of the trunkat arate governed by the speed of'rotat-ion of the-rollers.

The several trunks 7 are assembled with their respective by which material conveyed on the lattice is removed and directed into a receptacle which may take the form of the A two-way distributor 18 shOWn in Fig. 1, which deliversto the hoppers through the ducts 4. Said lattice bears closely-spaced cross-members 19 which are furnished with rows of spikes 20 inclined in the direction of travel'of the lattice. Said spikes 20 should be disposed over the lattice surface in a uniformly staggered formation so as to avoid an unduly marked tracking effect. Furthermore, said spikes are set with their tips so close to the metering rollers 13 that by the impalement by the former of the fringe of material which projects between said rollers (as will be understood from the following description), said spikes are individually charged with minute tufts of fibres collected in turn from the fringe at the metered discharge point of each trunk 7.

The several moving parts of the apparatus are driven from two electric motors 21, 22. The shaft of the motor 21 is geared to one of the fans by the belt 23, to the condenser cage driving rollers 24,24 by the belts 25, 26, 27 and 28, and to the roller of the conveyor lattice 14 by the belt 29. The shaft of the motor 22 is geared to the other of the fans 10 by the belt 36 and to one of each of the pairs of metering rollers 13, 1.3, through the belt 31, a pulley 32, a shaft 33, a pulley 34, a belt 35, a pulley 36, bevel gears 37, 38, a shaft 39 and individual beltdrives each of which includes a pulley 40, a belt 41,

a variable-speed gear 42, a belt 43, a pulley 44, a shaft 45, and worm and worm-wheel gears 46, 47. The stripper 17 is conveniently geared to the roller 15 by spurgearing 48, 49.

The delivery rate of the metering rollers, 13, 13, may be regulated separately at each unit by suitable adjustment of the variable-speed device 42.

The ingredient fibre received from the relative duct 2 by each cage 8 is condensed thereon and caused to be deposited within the trunk 7, where a substantially constant head is maintained by a photo-electric detector cell 50 which is sensitive to the instantaneous quantity of material in the trunk and which is connected by the line 51 to suitable electronic apparatus 52 serving to control a speed regulator (indicated conventionally at 53) associated with the delivery element of the hopper feeder 1, the arrangement being such that the rate of output of the hopper feeder is adjusted in accordance with the rate at which the fibre in the trunk 7 is being discharged by the metering rollers 13.

As has already been explained, the ingredient of each trunk 7 is discharged by the rollers 13 (at a rate determined by the setting of the variable speed device 42) so that it emerges in the form of a downwardly-depending sheet the fringe whereof is continuously combed by the tips of the spikes of the lattice 14. The tufts of fibre which are impaled upon the lattice spikes 20 at each successive pair of metering rollers 13 compose a tenuous layer, so that when the spikes reach the stripping point at the conveyor roller 15 the lattice is carrying as many superposed layers of different ingredients as there are delivery units in the blending apparatus.

The composite mass of layered tufts is removed from the lattice by the stripper 17 and discharged into the distributor 18, whence the blended material is conducted to the hopper feeders 5 and intensive opening apparatus 6. (If desired, the hopper feeders 5 may be omitted, in which case the apparatus 6 is or are fed directly from the distributor 18.) It is convenient to provide in the distributor 18 an electrical contact 54 which is connected by a line 55 to electronic apparatus 56 serving to control f a clutch 57 which is inclined in continue the supply to the distributor.

J distributor 18.when the desired level of material in a feeder is reached, so as automatically to cut off delivery from the distributor to that feeder. Actuation of both photocells is arranged to operate the contact 54 and to dis- The mechanism in the distributor 18 may be of known form incorporating electrically-controlled doors connected in circuit with the photo-cells in the hopper feeders.

The adjustment of the variable-speed units 42, by which it is possible to effect a variation in the gear-ratio between the pulleys 40 and 44 in the metering roller drive, enables the rate of delivery of each ingredient to the blending lattice 14 to be determined as may be necessary to provide any desired proportional admixture in the blend of materials discharged into the distributor 18. The several metereddelivery units 7 may be calibrated for use with specific kinds of fibre, so that irrespective of its density the required proportion of an ingredient in a given blend may be achieved merely by regulating the speed of the metering rollers 13, 13 of the trunk 7 in question, by an adjustment of the relative unit 42,

In the modified embodiment illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, the condenser cage 8 of each of the gravity-feed trunks .7 is arranged to float upon the surfaces of a pair of rubber-covered rollers 58 which impart the appropriate direction of rotation to the cage through spur gearing 59, 60 (Fig. 5). Said roller 53, of which the inner ones each serve partially to support two adjacent cages 8, constitute means for sealing the spaces between the cages and those parts of the casings lying between the ducts 2 and the trunks 7. The cages are provided with circumferential tongues 61 which are received in grooved rims 62 upon the shafts of the rollers 58 and which thereby .serve to prevent endwise movement of the cages during their rotation.

With regard to the circuit of the photo-electric detector scribed embodiments, it is desirable to employ circuit apparatus in each case which will provide an asymmetrical delay in the operation of the control mechanism. in order (a) that by ensuring a rapid action of the control when the level of the material in the trunk or hopper falls. hunting may be prevented, and (b) to avoid the operation of the control merely by reason of the intermittent interruption of the energising light beam by the material falling into the trunk or hopper.

If desired, the hopper feeders 1 may be replaced by other appropriate opening machinery having a feed component which can be stopped and started intermittently by the photo-electric apparatus which is associated with the gravity-feed trunk 7 of the blending apparatus for the purpose of regulating the head of material in said trunk.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of blending a plurality of textile fibrous materials, consisting in stacking the materials in substantially vertically arranged stacks individually in successive order, feeding the materials from the bases of the stacks in loosely compacted sheet form, disintegrating said sheets by progressively pulling tufts from the bases of the stacks in succession in a horizontal direction to form layers one upon the other as they are fed horizontally from the stacks.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the materials are fed from the bases of the stacks at speeds proportional to the proportions of the respectively ingredient materials desired in the blend.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rates of feed of the materiais into and from the stacks are so adjusted as to maintain approximately constant heads of material in each stack.

4. The method of blending a plurality of textile fibrous materials, consisting in stacking the materials in successive order in a plurality of stacks, feeding the materials from the bases of the stacks, disintegrating the leading edge of the sheets in succession by impaling in a difierent plane from said stacks finely divided tufts of material from each of said sheets in progression as they are fed from the bases of said stacks to thereby form superposed layers of the materials.

5. The method of blending and processing a plurality of textile fibrous materials consisting in subjecting a pin rality of ingredient materials to separate preliminary opening operations, adjusting such operations so as to give to the opened material a substantially uniform degree of openness, stacking the ingredient materials in a 6 plurality of stacks, feeding the materials from the bases of the stacks, disintegrating the leading edge of the sheets in succession by impaling in a different plane from said stacks finely divided tufts of material from each of said sheets as they are fed from the stacks in succession to thereby form superposed layers of the materials.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 67,226 Tainter July 30, 1867 852,474 Tyden May 7, 1907 1,359,029 Butler Nov. 16, 1920 1,545,367 Tice July 5, 1925 1,929,344 Benoit Oct. 3, 1933 2,665,453 Senior et al Jan. 12, 1954 2,666,956 Hunter et al. Ian. 26, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 34,104 Austria Aug. 25, 1908 355,995 Italy Jan. 22, 1938 694,868 Germany Aug. 9, 1940 

